Valvoline.com

Stock Car Racing

Beyond Winston/Nextel Cup

NASCAR Winston (soon to be Nextel) Cup is the 500-pound gorilla of American auto racing. But there are thousands of other stock car championships. These range from the well-known NASCAR Busch series, to regional cult classics such as the Advance Auto Parts Modified Super DIRT Series, to obscure single-track championships contested by a dozen cars. In addition to Winston/Nextel Cup, NASCAR itself has another 10 series, plus its Dodge Weekly Racing Series, which sanctions races at 75 tracks.

Race Soup

There's also a flock of mid-level series organized by a daunting alphabet soup of racing leagues (often called "sanctioning bodies"): ASA, ARCA, IMCA, SAS, USAR, CASCAR, and many more. Plus, there are about 1,000 oval tracks in the U.S. Many of these have a half-dozen divisions and each has its own championship.

To outsiders, there are more similarities than differences among stock cars. But, as you might find it easy to tell the difference between a high-school quarterback and an NFL defensive back, most Europeans would find them virtually interchangeable: both are huge, scary American dudes wearing shoulder pads, numbered jerseys, and helmets emblazoned with mean-looking critters. Just as in stock-car racing, small distinctions are critical.

The vast majority of stock cars are based on welded tube-steel spaceframe chassis: arrangements that look like a playground set from Honey, I Shrunk the Kids. Virtually all use production-sedan-replica bodies made of composite: fiberglass or carbon fiber. The preponderance are powered by American V-8 engines driving the rear wheels. Virtually all race on left-turn-only oval tracks, both asphalt and dirt. Still, you don't have to look long to find four- and six-cylinder engines, foreign makes, dead-stock chassis, pickup trucks, steel fenders, open wheels, and other many other variations.

Differences

The main differences among stock car series' are minimum weight, freedom of suspension design, engine rules, and required tires. The vast majority of stock cars are much lighter than Cup cars. Most allow more sophisticated coil-spring-over-shock-absorber suspension, as opposed to Cup cars' separate spring design. Virtually all stock cars feature engine and tire rules that, in part, attempt to restrict cost and improve competition.

Closely related to Cup cars are those in the ARCA Remax Challenge and the NASCAR series now known as Winston West. The rulebooks are so similar that a car could move among the three series with relatively little effort. Indeed, most ARCA and West cars are Cup hand-me-downs.

Recently, NASCAR Busch Series rules moved very close to those for Cup. Previously, Busch cars had notably shorter wheelbases (the distance between the front and rear wheels) and V-6 engines. But to make Busch a better training ground for Cup, Busch wheelbase is now within five inches of Cup, and engines are V-8s. A smaller carburetor (the device that mixes fuel and air) is the main difference between Busch and Cup engines: Busch engines make about 550 horsepower, compared to the near-800 ponies produced by a Cup motor. Busch North Series rules are a near duplicate of its more-famous relative. Recently, NASCAR announced plans to combine Winston West and Busch North Series into the Grand National Division. Eventually Grand National Division rules will match those of the Busch Series.

Stock Trucks

Craftsman Truck series vehicles are essentially Winston Cup cars with faux-pickup like bodies. A Busch-series-style smaller carb limits horsepower.

It's possible to lump a large portion of stock-car series together under the umbrella of "late models." Compared to Cup cars (everything in racing is these days!), these are lighter and use slightly more sophisticated suspension. Falling into this group is NASCAR's four-series Elite Division: Featherlite Southwest, Raybestos Northwest, International Truck & Engine Midwest and Kodak Southeast series. That's in addition to the tens of thousands of cars that run every Friday and Saturday night at hundreds of short ovals. Each series or championship has marginally different rules packages, though some are so close that cars could be switched between series with a change of a carb, a few pounds of ballast, a different set of tires, and the proper series stickers.

Though they once fell under the late-model umbrella, cars of the American Speed Association have evolved into a separate subspecies. The single biggest difference: All ASA racers, regardless of their nominal make, must use fuel-injected Chevrolet LS1 engines. ASA may be the only stock-car series that employs computer-controlled fuel injection and ignition, rather than the old-style carburetor and distributor and points ignition. Save for a few slight concessions to competition, ASA engines are unchanged from what comes in the Corvette and sealed so that no competitor modifications can be performed.

Rebels

A few series deviate from V-8-power. One is NASCAR Goody's Dash series. Imagine washing a Winston Cup car in too-hot water and having it shrink: That's a Goody's Dash car. Engines are carbureted V-6s. These cars fit well on quarter and half-mile tracks, but at Daytona are little faster than a dead-stock Camaro Z28. In addition, virtually every short track has a low-budget four or six cylinder class.

"Modifieds" are the original trunk of the stock-car family tree. The biggest visual difference between modifieds and other stock cars is that a modified's bodywork does not cover its tires. Compared to Cup cars, NASCAR's Featherlite Modified series cars are 800 pounds lighter and have much wider tires, which makes them notably faster than Cup cars on short tracks.

Likely the largest single class in all of racing is the International Motor Contest Association (IMCA) modified division. This low-cost class employs an engine claimer rule: Competitors can buy each other's motors for $525. If you're looking to become a race driver, IMCA Modifieds are a great place to start.

Super Dirt

Extremely popular in the northeast is the Advance Auto Parts Modified Super DIRT Series. Imagine the offspring of a marriage between a stock car and a sprint car: That's a DIRT modified. Though they have roofs and full-width bodies, they lack fenders and are notably lighter than Cup cars, but heavier than sprint cars. As with sprint cars, alcohol—not gasoline—is the fuel of choice. And they race on dirt.

Dirt late models are extremely popular, especially in the southeast. Rules vary wildly, ranging from nearly street stock to virtually unlimited. Horsepower can match Cup cars. Some even burn alcohol.

This is far from a complete listing of all stock car championships, but it should allow you to understand that there's a lot more to stock car racing than just Winston/Nextel Cup.